A common form of chemical synthesis in combinatorial chemistry is known as “solid phase” chemical synthesis. This synthesis technique uses encoded beads or particles as a solid support for the synthesis of chemicals and/or chemical libraries
Existing technologies, such as bar codes, electronic microchips/transponders, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and fluorescence and other optical techniques, are often inadequate. For example, existing technologies may be too large for certain applications, may not provide enough different codes (i.e., limited multiplexing capability), or cannot withstand harsh temperature, chemical, nuclear and/or electromagnetic environments, or may otherwise be not well suited for certain types of chemical synthesis or true combinatorial chemistry.
Therefore, it would be desirable to obtain a coding element or platform that provides the capability of providing many codes (e.g., greater than 1 million codes), that can be made very small, that can withstand harsh environments, and/or can enable “true” combinatorial chemistry.